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The Social Justice Zealots Are Unmasking Themselves

You know the best part of the internet? The dirty work of the Left is done in the full light of day. You might not think that’s good, but allow me to explain.

When I first broke into publishing, my (I assure you well-intentioned) mentors told me that not only should I watch everything I said in public, not to give anyone the chance to create a rumor about me, but I also should immediately drop anyone who happened to seem to be on the outs, because I never knew why the publishers had dropped the person, and I didn’t want it splashing on me.

I probably don’t need to tell anyone that while I worried obsessively about the first, I never did the second. My friends were my friends, and even if I had no clue why they were being dropped, I wasn’t going to pretend I didn’t know them. This has paid off, actually, because over time my friends have been the best asset to my career.

But in 2003 when I was dropped by Ace, a desert formed around me, and people I’d trusted as friends stopped talking to me.

Did they hear anything about me? Were there rumors flying? There was no way to know.

You could be banished to the hinterlands by rumors that made absolutely no sense and had nothing to do with reality. All it took was one person who disliked you or had reason to believe you were the wrong political color -- and suddenly no one would talk to you.

There was no confronting your accusers.

In that sense, the Internet is a great boon to us, because now what the crazy Leftists do, they have to do in the full light of day.

We have yet another advantage, because today unless you’re a very old-fashioned writer, you no longer fear that your publisher will drop you because of an opinion you expressed, or an opinion your friends expected

Take, for instance, how Origins, a gaming con in Ohio that had invited my friend Larry Correia, one of my colleagues at Baen and a devoted gamer, to be guest of honor, today decided to uninvite him, less than a month from the con with this kind of vague patter.

Now, if you’re wondering what beliefs Larry could have that would offend a con... Yeah, I was puzzled by that too. Larry is a libertarian (note small l) who grew up poor as dirt in a California farm. His dad is an immigrant from Portugal. His books are pure fun. I figured perhaps the con was anti-fun. Or perhaps, Larry being anti-Stalin was a problem. Maybe the con was all in for the butcher of the steppes.